Creatures of the Night
by Sparky
Summary: First in a series. Vampire bounty hunter Preyda arrives on colony Omnicron, forever changing her and it's destiny's.


ubCreatures of the Night/b/u  
p.  
pPreyda was walking through a grimy, dark alley on the colony of Omnicron. Every now and then her gaze would dart to some mech passing by. She could sense all types of emotions from them; mainly cautiousness and fear. These mechs had good reason to be afraid.  
pShe had been hearing all about it on the holos for two days now. A psychotic, homicidal mech by the name of "Protoform X," had broken out of the maximum security prison, leaving all security bots dead, cept for a tough bot by the name of Depth Charge (I'm not sure if that was his name before the Beast Wars, so I'm just using it anyway.). "X," is described to be a tall bot; towering over most mechs; with a humble hypnotic voice and a very disturbing aura. Authorities warned the citizens of the colony, not to venture out during the dark cycles (night), and if so, to stay in a well lit area where there are many other bots. Why all this fear of darkness, because of how "X" attacks his victims. He is known to sneak out of the protective sheild of the darkness of the night and grab up helpless bots; feeding off their fear and then devouring their spark. So far, "X" had killed over 100 known bots. In a matter of 2 weeks, if he keeps going at this rate, X could wipe out the entire populance of the colony.   
p  
pPreyda's gaze darted to another mech walking by. Their optics locked. The emotions she got from him were of surprise, and awe. Preyda had to amitt, she was an inconspicious bot, that is, until her optics lock with anothers. It was like some spell, like the ones in fairy tales and fantasys, in which the only way the spell is to be broken (to that person only), is by gazing into the person's eyes or optics. Once the connection is made, or the spell is broken, the bot will see her for what she really is: an exotic fembot, a deadly beauty; and if they can see pass all that; a non Cybertronian.  
pPreyda gave the bot one last look over, and then continued on her way. The bot stood in his place; optics locked in confused awe, watching her leave, wondering how anyone could have missed a femme like that.  
p  
pPreyda rounded a corner, and immediatly spotted the place "he" wanted to meet her. It was an area of about 5 feet around, in which a circular moon beam had lighted up out of some twisted feat of nature and machine. She entered it warily, knowing that she would be easily spotable, but she didn't care. She waited.  
pPreyda was a bounty hunter by trade. It was the first (and only) job she had since she could remember. Her orgins are a mystery to her. The very first thing she was conscious of, was being in a Starhopper, leaving some damaged facility on an asteriod. After leaving it, she was shortly intercepted, or more like crashed into, a bounty hunter by the name of Darklar. He took her in and taught her all he knew about his trade.   
pPreyda smiled at the memory. Darklar may have been possesive and kinda senile and paranoid, but he was a good bot. Good in skill, if not mind; body; and.....taste.   
pPreyda, to put it simply, is a vampire. She discovered this tenacity of hers, shortly after meeting Darklar.   
pTwenty solar cycles after meeting him, Preyda started to suffer from what seemed like a virus. In reality, she was suffering from an energy loss that could only be replenished by taking the mech fluids from another bot.   
PDarklar had another apprentice named Brajaan, that attended to her. One day the pain and hunger totally overcame her. When Brajaan came to check on her, she attacked, and following her internal programing, deeply fed from him, killing him in the process. Everyone believed he had been killed by the virus she had, but only she knew the truth.   
pPreyda could remember the first time she had taken from Darklar. It was right after they recieved thier credits from one of their hardest bounties. They were celebrating, and Darklar had drank a little too much energon drinks. He had tried to attack her thinking her to be someone else. She didn't blame him, he was so drunk, he didn't know what he was doing. In order to protect her self, she had fed off him. It was the first time she used her vampiric powers in self defense, and certainly not the last  
pAfter leaving Darklar, she flew around the galaxy, establishing herself a nich in the bounty hunting trade. It was a small nich, but it was what she wanted. Popularity was what she resented. Popularity would get her secret out, and eventually be her down fall.  
P  
pThe air around Preyda seemed to stir a bit, knocking her out of her thoughts. She sighed in peaceful bliss, wondering how long her patience for the bot she was waiting for could last.   
pHe was a friend of a former employer of hers, who recommended her to him, due to her outstanding work while she was under his service. The bot had contacted her, saying he was in need of her service, and arranged to meet with her here on this backwater colony named Omnicron.  
pPreyda began to get the feeling of being watched. She looked around a bit, not seeing anything. She shrugged off the feeling, and continued to wait. She then began to feel a presence walking towards her. She turned around in that direction, and called out the name of the bot she was waiting for.  
p"Slyther!!!! SLYTHER!!!!!!"  
pGetting no response, Preyda nervously turned back around. She continued to feel that presence of someone walking towards her. It was a disturbing presence that made her shiver. When she could bare it no more, she called out in a demanding voice:  
p"You are not Slyther! Identify yourself!"  
pA humble voice answered her. "My sweet sweet dear, I may not be Slyther, but if he is the mech I had the pleasure of meeting with a while ago, then I must say; his spark was most delicious."  
pPreyda instincively turned around, and stared into the glowing optics of a large mech.  
p"Protoform X!?!" The words escaped her mouth before she could process what she was seeing in her mind.  
pTo answer her, Protoform X gave out a melicious laugh, and stepped into the light of the moon beam circle. Before Preyda could do anything, he lifted her up, and then slammed her into the ground, pinning her body under his. He tilted his head down, and his optics locked with hers.  
p"Your a pretty bot," he said in a low voice. He caressed her face slowly.  
pPreyda shivered in disgust, and manage to stuff a scream she was going to yell out, with a soft moan. X noticed this, and said:  
p"Don't fight it. Let the fear over come you."  
pPyxa twisted her face into a grimace. She could feel pain all over her body from X's large weight on her weaker form. The fear she felt was generating in every space of her spark.  
p"Yes!! Yes!!! Your pain is so delicious. Now let out your fear. I can feel it. It is wonderful."   
pPreyda began to tremble and shiver. The freak was winning. She had to do something. Anything.   
pPreyda closed her eyes and focused her mind. Something whispered in the back of her mind. A forgotten program.   
pShe erased all signs of fear and pain from her body, opened her eyes, and looked up into X's optics.  
p"Stop" she said in an emotionless voice.  
pX was amazed at her sudden change in attitude. He was even kind of frighten. The tone of her voice made him flinch.  
p"I don't know what you think your doing my dear, but it won't help. Your spark is still doomed."  
p"Fine." Preyda said.  
pPreyda's eyes turned pure black Black energy began to course all over her body. With her will, she redirected it's dark stream towards Protoform X. He could only give out a hoarse scream of agony before the black energy paralyzed him.  
pPreyda lept on top of his now vulnerable body, and looked into his devilish optics. X looked back, and manage to muster up enough strength to say:  
p"Do you think that could hold me down for long?"  
p"No," Preyda answered," and neither will this, but it'll keep you down long enough for me to get as far away from you as possible!"  
pSuddenly, two pitch black fangs jutted out of her mouth. She bent down and bit into X's exposed neck, not stopping until X had stop yelling, and was nothing more then a twitching mound on the ground.  
pShe got up and immediatly regergitated much of the mech blood she got from Protoform X. It was just too much for her body to handle.  
pAt first it was a barely audible sound, which in a few seconds turned into the loud boom of jet engines. She quickly got up out of the moon beam circle, and slinked into the shadows.  
pJust then, a mech landed, and looked at X. He couldn't believe his optics. The monster that a full pledge team of maximum secuirity bots, and countless other vigilanty citizens, couldn't take down, or even scratch, was here, helpless infront of him, bleeding mech fluid all over the ground.  
pDepth Charge knelt down, and turned X over, looking for any wounds. There were two puncture marks in his necks that oozed a little bit of mech fluid. This didn't make any sense to the vengeful mech. How can a wound this small leak so much blood. Depth Charge really didn't care, just as long as he could end X's menace on this colony. He took out a pair of titanium reinforced energy binders and was prepared to contain Protoform X, until he heard a femine voice ring out from the darkness besides him.  
p"The crazy ones always taste good."  
pDepth Charge looked up into the optics of a beautiful fembot. Noticing that he had spotted her, she turned and quickly fled into the shadows of the alley. Mystified, and puzzled, Depth Charge got up and followed her, completely forgetting why he was out here, and what he was about to do..  
pHe found her standing over the body of some unfortunate bot whom X had gotten earlier. He looked down at the body, quickly identifying him as one of the more notorious citizens of this colony. 'Probably up to no good when X got him,' he thought.   
He heard her say: "What a waste of a potential bounty."   
pWhen he looked up, she was gone.   
p"Protoform X! I almost forgot! Slag!"   
pDepth Charge suddenly remembered where he was, why he was here, and that he had left X back there in the moon beam circle with no restraints. Cursing himself for his negligence and for chasing that fembot, he raced back towards the moonbeam circle. All the while, things begin to fit together in his head. The puncture wounds, the mech blood everywhere, that fembot and the comment she said. She was a vampire. A creature he had heard about, but thought it was only silly rumor.   
pDepth Charge finally reached the moon beam circle, only to find that X had disappeared. He howled in frustration. He was so close, so close . . .  
p  
p***  
p  
pPreyda looked out her ship, the Darkstar, and gazed at the planet which housed the colony of Omnicron. She felt pity for those colonists on Omnicron, who are now trapped with that monster, Protoform X.   
pPreyda knew it was her fault. If she had only stayed in the shadows or left, instead of revealing herself to that bot, he could have contained Protoform X and imprisoned him for good.   
pPreyda didn't know what had come over her. She just went by instinct to reveal herself to him, and distract him long enough for X to get away. Maybe it was because Protoform X was like her. A creature of the night, forever repelled by society by one faulty characteristic. For her, it was the need for mech blood; for him, it was his desire for fear. Preyda sighed. What she did was for her continual of existence. What he did was not for his survival. He could certainly continue living without it. She had made a grave mistake.  
pPreyda sighed once again. She grabbed onto something as her ship entered transwarp space, leaving Omnicron forever; the taste of X's mech fluid still lingering in the back of her mouth.   



End file.
